Hello!  I teach 7th grade English! I have been teaching 7th grade since 2007. I also taught high school for one year in Georgia before coming to Smiths Station. I am excited to start a new year with new students and get to know each one of them!  I have been teaching here at SSJHS for 17 years, starting year 18 for the 24-25 school year.  I absolutely LOVE this age level, and I truly enjoy getting to know my students, and many of the students that walk our hallways.   

I attended school in Chadron, NE at Chadron State College. I have three children; Savannah, 13, Makenna, 12, and Coen, 7. They keep me quite busy and crazy outside of school!  I help to coach my girls' softball team, so if I'm not here at school, likely I'm there helping coach, watching them practice/assisting, or doing some other kind of outing where my girls, son, or whole family is involved. Outside of school, I also volunteer with the Youth Group at my church. I often see my students there, as well as a lot of students that attend SSJHS. I enjoy being able to help mentor them not only here, but there as well.  

My most favorite hobbies include traveling, spending time with family, tending my 27 chickens, and reading. I fully plan on traveling the world once I'm retired and my children have all 'left the nest'.   

I enjoy teaching English, and I put a lot of emphasis on learning life skills...yes, even in English. It is so important to have truly well-rounded students that become awesome members of society in so many ways!  I like to do this through Bellwork (lots of ways to incorporate life skills here, and many different topics of conversation often happen at the start of class...), and through our reading. We read novels, short stories, poems, and all sorts of different types of literature that lends its way into learning about life in different ways. I hope not only to create students that want to learn more, but also students that desire to read more!  Reading gives us so many different skills, and well, I'm definitely a fan of it!